Where Media Meets Communication
After running more than thirty crisis simulations, the biggest risk isn’t the media. It’s your internal approval chain.
If you can’t clear a holding line in 10 minutes, the internet will clear it for you.
Every extra step in sign-off costs you trust you won’t get back.
The biggest AI reputational risks I’m seeing inside organisations right now:
I’ve advised leadership teams through all four in the last 12 months.
The fix isn’t just technical – it’s cultural and procedural.
Every team, from comms to legal to IT, needs to know their role before it happens.
In 80% of crises I handle, the damage isn’t caused by the event itself
It is caused by what is said or not said in the first 24 hours.
I have seen small incidents spiral into national headlines because leaders guessed their way through the response.
I have also seen major crises vanish from public conversation in days because the messaging was prepared in advance.
Crisis communication is not spin.
If you want that level of readiness for your organisation, we should talk now, not when the crisis has already arrived.
In the last 12 months, I’ve handled multiple crises
Some were national news.
Some were small but had the potential to get messy fast.
Every single one started with a phone call that began with an element of panic.
The longer it took for that call to come, the harder the recovery was.
With crisis retainer support, it is different.
We already know your business, your risks, and your people.
We can move in minutes instead of days.
In crisis work, speed is not a luxury. It is the difference between headlines that fade and headlines that haunt.
If you want to know how ready your business really is, let’s talk.
You don’t need to go viral
You need to stay credible.
The next headline won’t care how many views your last post got.
What matters is
A tech founder I worked with had all the right metrics online. But when their product failed and the media called they froze.
The polish cracked. The trust dropped.
In crisis comms, reach is nice. But reputation is everything.
Build that. And everything else follows.
A crisis can strike any business at any time.
Whether it’s a PR mishap, a data breach, or an operational failure, how you
handle the situation can make or break your reputation and have a dramatic
financial impact.
That’s where crisis communications come into play.
It involves preparing for and responding to unexpected events that could harm your organisation’s reputation. It’s about delivering clear, consistent and timely messages to everyone you need to talk to from employees to customers to the public.
But do you really need it?
● Is your business really likely to face a crisis?
● Will it even get media/social attention?
I say, yes. Every business needs to prepare for a crisis.
Here’s how it will help:
● Protect your reputation: a well-managed crisis can defend and even enhance your brand’s reputation.
● Maintain trust: keeping people informed shows transparency and builds trust.
● Minimise impact: quick, strategic responses can mitigate the negative effects of a crisis.
● Ensure continuity: effective communication helps maintain business operations and morale during turbulent times.
In uncertain times, having a solid crisis communications plan isn’t just an option – it’s a necessity.
Is your business prepared to handle the unexpected?
Building a company’s reputation is a long-term investment which takes years of consistent effort, trust-building, and strategic communication. But the destruction of reputation happens in a matter of moments. We thought we’d take a closer look at how investment in crisis communications and risk preparation reduces the impact of a reputational hit.
1. Consistency and Trust:
– Years of reliable performance, transparency, and delivering on promises
2. Quality and Excellence:
– Continuous provision of high-quality products or services and maintaining high standards
3. Positive Relationships:
– Nurturing relationships with customers, employees, and the wider community
4. Strategic Communication:
– Regular, strategic engagement and storytelling to highlight successes and values
5. Resilience and Adaptability:
– Demonstrating strength in handling challenges and adapting to changes
According to research from Pentland Analytics (pdf), companies recover from share-price losses faster when senior management communicates with stakeholders swiftly and launches an active program of social responsibility that directly addresses the damage associated with the crisis.
Don’t waste years of hard work. Prioritise proactive reputation management and effective crisis communication to protect your brand integrity.
To help you we’ve created a tool to discover how safe your company’s reputation really is. Think of it as the first step of a Reputation Audit.
To take a look, please visit our Reputational Audit page.
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